Robert DeLeo

Welcome to Madison on the Charles

By adamg - 4/27/11 - 5:42 am

Globe: House votes to restrict unions: Measure would curb bargaining on health care.

However, the Outraged Liberal says not so fast with the Walker comparisons; the real issue, he says, is that Mass. AFL-CIO honcho Robert Haynes has become a blowhard liability to the labor movement he purports to lead:

The DeLeo proposal forces labor to the bargaining table, which is where they claim to want to be all along.

After some interesting Statehouse theatrics this morning, I suspect that's exactly where Haynes is going. Hope there's a silver platter at the table for him to place the head DeLeo just handed him.

Ice fall sends house speaker to hospital

By adamg - 2/7/11 - 2:18 pm

Bob DeLeo slipped on ice this morning, Channel 25 reports.

'Dumping Petro is not going to be enough'

By adamg - 11/24/10 - 7:41 am

The Outraged Liberal considers Robert DeLeo's comments on a day when most people aren't going to be paying too much attention to his thoughts on the Probation Department scandal.

Patrick bets against slots

By adamg - 8/1/10 - 8:16 am

Technically, the governor has ten days to sign the casino/slots bill passed by the legislature last night. But the odds against that are pretty high. House Speaker Robert DeLeo, whose district would likely get both a resort casino (Suffolk Downs) and a slots parlor (Wonderland) vowed to raise the stakes if Patrick "amends" the bill (sends it back to the legislature with proposed changes; effectively killing it).

Or even if he does sign it, he can do what he wants because of an apparent mistake with a single word in the section of the bill setting up a gambling commission, the Outraged Liberal informs us.

Meanwhile, Ross Levanto writes that all the dithering over casinos means Massachusetts lost out on a federal stimulus program to encourage small-business job creation.

Funny numbers in DeLeo casino plan

By adamg - 4/2/10 - 9:18 am

A shame there won't be any debate. Jack Sullivan at CommonWealth runs DeLeo's numbers, discovers that to meet the tax-revenue numbers he's claiming, the two proposed casinos would have to bring in a total of between $5.6 billion and $7 billion a year in revenue. Nice change, but he notes that Las Vegas's 266 casinos currently make a combined total of $11.6 billion in gross receipts each year. Does that add up?

DeLeo: We don't give a fig what the public thinks about gambling plan

By adamg - 4/2/10 - 7:12 am

Released yesterday, ready for a vote next week. Includes a provision for slots at Suffolk Downs.

The Outraged Liberal wonders:

... Is the racino proposal really so shaky it cannot stand a public discussion? Or because the bill's new provisions really only affect your own district and a couple of others, do you think no one else need bother themselves with the details? ...

Jim, who lives in East Boston, isn't too happy with the Speaker, either:

... There are many legitimate arguments against casinos and slots, and not allowing for an open and fact-based discussion is clearly undemocratic. ...

Call him Slots DeLeo

By adamg - 3/4/10 - 12:56 pm

Proposes two casinos and slots at racetracks; unclear if he wants to put a casino AND slots at Suffolk Downs, which would thrill Tom Menino to pieces.

David Guarino, who knows something about legislative battles over gambling (as former PR guy for former Speaker DiMasi), considers what DeLeo will have to do to flip those reps who voted against casinos last time around.

Was there a zombie attack on Beacon Hill?

By adamg - 3/13/09 - 7:52 am

Because our alleged leaders are displaying a notable lack of brains, from Deval Patrick finding a good hack job for Marian Walsh to, well, Marian Walsh accepting a good hack job, as the state sinks deeper into debt, the Outraged Liberal fulminates.